The tournament

Heroes' Ascent parties include at least 8 characters, of which at least 6 must be human players. The other two can be henchmen.

There are several different game types: Annihilation or Priest Annihilation, Capture the Relic, King of the Hill, Capture Points, or Relic Run.

Upon entering the mission, your team is placed in an annihilation match against Zaishen.

After this, the teams progress forward through the maps as they win. Depending on how many teams are playing, a team may skip forward over any number of maps. It's common that a team won't traverse through the full list of maps, even if they reach the Hall of Heroes. However, it may be impossible to skip right to Hall of Heroes after beating the Zaishen. The first map Underworld, is usually played. If you win a match in the Hall of Heroes, your team will play again as the blue team.